Bone Marrow Donor Sought for 7-Year-Old

Ana Caraveo, an Eagle Rock mother of three girls, sat at her daughter’s bedside at Childrens Hospital of Los Angeles on Thursday and talked about her fervent wish: Sasha’s recovery from leukemia through a bone marrow transplant.

The difficulty is finding a donor who can provide a bone marrow match for Sasha. Neither of her two sisters is a compatible match.

“We are doing everything we can to find a match and bring her home with us,” Caraveo said.

Sasha, 7, has been battling leukemia since she was 4. She was in remission for about a year but the deadly disease came back in October. She was forced to withdraw from second grade and quit the soccer team.

“The hospital has become her second home,” said Caraveo, who hung a poster of two kittens above her daughter’s bed. “She can’t be around pets . . . or public places, or sick people.”

Snuggled beneath the blankets of her hospital bed, Sasha explained her understanding of her illness.

“Leukemia kills my bad cells and good cells,” Sasha said. “That’s why I’m losing my hair. Can’t they give me a medicine that will kill bad cells and leave the good ones?”

A bone marrow transplant “is her best chance,” said Pam Datria, Sasha’s nurse. But the chances of finding a suitable donor are harder for people of Latino descent, such as Sasha.

That is because, according to the National Bone Marrow Program, volunteers of Latino descent only make up about 6% of the list of 2.5 million potential donors on the national registry.

To help find a match, Caraveo and her husband, Rafael, have worked with the American Red Cross to hold a marrow and blood drive Jan. 26 at St. Dominic’s Parish at 2002 Merchant Ave. in Eagle Rock.

For information, call (800) 843-2949, Ext. 5595.